Wow. What an incredible couple of weeks it has been. On April 21st our book became available on Amazon.com, and then a week later we started to see it at Barnes & Noble bookstores across the country. Shortly after launching it made its way into the top 15 for best selling marketing and sales books on Amazon, which truly is a great honor and we couldn’t thank all of you enough who have been so complimentary. As more people have become exposed to the book we have been asked the obvious question of, “why should I buy it?” Similarly, people have asked us “what does the book cover?”

With that in mind, we thought it might be helpful to provide you with a sneak peek of what is in the book. This isn’t the entirety of the book, of course, but it should help you answer why you should buy the book.

Tools of the trade – During the course of our day we are asked at least once by clients or colleagues which tools are the best for capturing data on how are stakeholders are behaving. Unfortunately, there is not one tool that solves all issues. In the book we talk about the importance of developing a toolbox, which would include content analytics, audience analytics, social media monitoring, search analytics, social media engagement software and influencer analytics. Yes, that means you could very well have six different tools that you are accessing, but doing so will give you a more holistic picture of how stakeholders behave online.

Digital data use cases – Right after people ask us about the tools they can use to collect data about stakeholders, they ask about how digital data can be used across the business. In the book we delve into how digital data can be used for public relations, marketing, customer service, crisis communications and product planning. That is not the extent of the use cases, of course, but those are the biggest and likely to add the most value to your business.

Measuring social media – This is probably top of mind for every corporate social media or digital marketing lead right now. We cover the topic of measurement quite extensively in the book. The book covers everything from how to create the scorecard, to how frequently you should be reporting, to how the information should be reported to internal stakeholders.

What’s next in digital marketing analytics? – Digital analytics is a rapidly evolving space, with new tools and techniques being developed every single day. Toward the end of the book we talk at length about the importance of mobile data becoming more robust, the growing area of social CRM (please, can we drop the social), what’s next in social media listening and beyond. These chapters are probably best for the analytics geeks among you.

Hopefully that gives you a sense for what we cover in the book, but if you need more information about the book we put together a quick video preview. Check it out.

The next two weeks are going to be big for Ken Burbary and myself. On Wednesday Digital Marketing Analytics hits the warehouse. After hitting the warehouse it should be in your hands shortly thereafter. It is hard to believe that over nine months of writing, editing and then writing and editing again is over. It is hard to believe that the awesome Katherine Bull will not be emailing us about an impending deadline. All that is left now is for us to talk about the book, and for you to tell us what you think of it. Of course, we would love it if you told others about how great it was, but we will also take your direct feedback.

If you have written a book you know something like this does not come together without a significant amount of support from family, friends and colleagues. Writing and editing every night and weekend for nine months is not a small commitment, but it is one we are happy to have taken on. From the moment we announced we were writing the book many have asked us who inspired us to write it. For that you will have to buy the book and check out the acknowledgements. There are a number of people that Ken and I have thanked for supporting us through the process.

The other question many have asked us is, “why did we write the book in the first place?” That is an equally loaded question, and one that is likely to have many different responses from both of us. Here are five from my perspective:

Digital marketing analytics roadmap – There are books currently available on the market that talk about traditional communications measurement. There are plenty of books currently available on the market that discuss the intricacies of web analytics. What there wasn’t, in our view, was a roadmap for communicators that tied elements of digital, social and traditional analytics together.

Not another web analytics book – If you search on Amazon for “web analytics” you will be faced with nearly 2,000 different results. To say that the topic of web analytics has been covered would be the understatement of the century. While we do talk briefly about web analytics in the book do not look for an extensive discussion about the topic.

Analytics toolbox development – If you currently work for a brand, or represent one on the agency side you know how many digital analytics tools currently exist on the marketplace. There are literally hundreds of social media monitoring tools alone. What we wanted to provide to communicators was a list of tools that should be in every toolbox. If you are wondering what those tools are be sure to check out chapters 4-9 in the book.

Measurement best practices – People like Katie Paine have been writing about best practices in media measurement for years, and we think it is great stuff. What we wanted to give more color on, though, was how we could bring together paid, social and traditional metrics into one cohesive scorecard. If we want to shout from the rooftops about the importance of integrated communications, we should be shouting equally as loudly for integrated measurement.

Bringing client experience to life – Both of us have several years of experience counseling clients on any number of analytics problems, and we wanted to be sure that came to life in the book. Where possible you will see names of companies we have worked with, but at a minimum what you will see throughout the book is our experience working with the Fortune 500 to gather, analyze and develop insights from volumes of digital data.

Those are just five from my perspective. Ken will be adding his five shortly. In the meantime, what are the five things you are hoping to get out of the book?

Being on a college campus is also an energizing experience. There is a great desire to learn more, and interact with people who have been working in the field for some time. The bonus comes when you realize that there is a lack of negativity that is sometimes created by bad experiences with partners or co-workers. It is really an energizing environment to be a part of for someone who spends every day in the trenches.

Last week was one of those weeks for me. As part of the Center for Social Commerce at the Newhouse School on the campus of Syracuse University, several colleagues and I had an opportunity to speak with many different classes to share what we have learned during our respective tenures. To say the students soaked it up would be an understatement. The number of short-form videos, tweets, storify updates and blog posts following our sessions has been astounding. We clearly have a new generation of content creators who are about to join our midst. A copy of the presentation is below.

As part of the week’s activities, I had an opportunity to give a lecture on how big brands (like Red Bull and Intel) are using digital data to gain a competitive advantage. During the presentation I talked a little about how the communications landscape has changed, and then transitioned into the ten trends in digital analytics. Those ten trends are largely techniques and ideas analytics professionals are adopting in order to meet the new information needs of marketing and communications professionals. What were the ten trends at a high level?

(Tool) Buyer Beware – The explosion of digital media and the subsequent explosion of available data has led to the development of too many tools. There are literally hundreds of available listening tools on the market, which is entirely too many. The other element to this is each tool provides a certain kind of data. That means it is incumbent upon communicators to build a tool box, and not rely on a single tool to do the job.

Two Clear Listening Models Emerging – Listening is a complex exercise with applications extending beyond public relations and marketing. However, the vast majority of listening that is currently done is either to inform real-time content development or a program.

HR, Sales, Product Development, Customer Service Join the Digital Data Party – In 2009, Ken Burbary and I outlined a process for organizations to adopt to use digital data outside of the public relations and marketing functions. There are a number of quality social customer service examples (e.g. Samsung, Delta, Bank of America), and those brands are using digital data. Unfortunately, those brands are still in the minority.

We Drop “Social” From Social CRM – When we were doing research for the book we uncovered almost 20 different definitions for social CRM, and therein lies the issue. We do not need a new term to describe this activity. What we need are traditional CRM systems to evolve in order to incorporate digital data.

Internal Ownership Becomes Critical – Companies that have digital analytics programs are collecting a tremendous amount of data. That data currently lives in presentations and spreadsheets. As the digital data needs become more complex companies will begin developing new technologies to make that data more accessible to key internal and external stakeholders.

Command Centers Are Valuable…Kind Of – Command Centers like those built by Gatorade and Dell have value, but less so as an analytics tool. The real value they hold is as an internal rallying cry for social media and the importance of listening to customers.

Measurement Finally Becomes Integrated – Communicators have fought silos for years, and it is time to start building integrated measurement scorecards.

Analytics Goes Hyper-Local – Utilizing tools like SnapTrends, marketers can gain tremendous insight on how customers are talking all of the way down to the street level.

Forensic Analytics Becomes Critical – It is not enough to just count mentions these days. Marketers must think about developing advanced customer profiles based on their behaviors online.

Influencer Analysis is not Synonymous with Klout – If you are simply trying to identify people who are talking a lot about a topic then Klout might be the tool for you. If you want to develop a highly relevant influencer list made up of people who have strong reach and syndication then developing your own approach will be required.

Realistically, I could have outlined 20 trends and it probably would not have captured everything that is happening in the industry. As digital media changes and evolves, so to does digital analytics. We’ll be watching to see what else develops in the coming weeks, months and years.